By Stephen Smoot
This winter has brought Pendleton County a bit of everything. Last month, the area endured bitter cold and an extended snowpack. Both of these, experts say, help by adding nutrients to the ground and rolling back the number of noxious bugs, such as fleas and ticks that will emerge with the return of warm weather.
Last week, the area saw a different side of winter. As early as a week prior, on Jan 28, the National Weather Service informed the area of “a slew of High Wind Warnings and Wind Advisories,” predicting gusts up to 65 miles per hour, the same strength as a powerful tropical storm, but 10 mph less than a hurricane.
As the area prepared for wind, rain, ice and snow, last week, temperatures rose above freezing. Snowpacks on mountain and ridge tops, as well as iced over creeks and rivers, continued to melt. Water saturated ground could absorb no more water, causing creeks and rivers to rise. On Facebook, the Pendleton County Office of Emergency Management warned of a hidden danger, stating that “ice dams on any stream, especially high mountain streams, can hold significant water.”
Melting snow only added to the trouble caused when those ice dams broke and released large amounts of water downstream. The office of emergency management showed one such event downstream from Parsons near St. George.
By last Monday and Tuesday winter weather alerts filtered in, advising of an ice storm moving into the area.
Freezing rain and ice hammered the area when the storm arrived, causing major damage in many forested areas and shutting down several roads. By last Thursday morning, according to the office of emergency management, Virginia’s Department of Transportation shut down US 33 from the West Virginia line to Rawley Springs, Virginia, citing “numerous downed trees.”
Department of highways crews, emergency services, and private citizens battled the conditions. By 10:12 a.m., the office of emergency management reported that the closure of US 33 extended to Brandywine Lake and “on the Virginia side of the mountain, from about Switzer Dam eastward, it looks like a war zone of broken and uprooted trees.”
Dry Run saw heavy tree damage. Jeff Munn, who along with his wife, Teresa, own a distillery in Dahmer, shared on his Facebook page “multiple trees down across our road . . . it looks like a tornado went through.” He shared that five large trees fell in the road and “the south end of Dry Run looks like a disaster area.”
Residents living on, or traveling to, any secondary roads across the county faced similar issues.
Franklin and other area fire departments found themselves cutting through downed trees to respond to calls as well. At 9:14, the FVFD received a call for a tree landing on a home located on Doe Hill Road.
As Brian DiFalco wrote on Facebook, “All the roads that could be utilized to reach the scene were blocked at some point.” Crews with chainsaws cleared the way, but it took three hours to get through the area and reach the home. They then found that “crews had to cut more trees out of the road that had fallen behind them on the way to the scene.”
Fortunately, the house took little damage and no one was hurt.
The heavy coat of ice extended the danger of the situation. Even after the weather subsided, heavy ice continued to break branches and fell trees.
As falling trees created obstacles, so did rising waters. In Franklin, for instance, raging waters dropped debris piles on the low water bridge and continued to rage over the roadway into the weekend. The North Fork River came close to rising over area bridges in Circleville and elsewhere, but started to recede before doing damage to them. A recreational vehicle site near Yokum’s took damage, but fortunately no houses, as reported by the office of emergency management.
Across the state, many areas saw worse. Marlinton issued a voluntary evacuation order. Water covered roadways in Elkins and other cities. A landslide blocked a main road near Webster Springs that led to the local hospital. Three inches or more of rain in a very short period fell from a storm band that hit Huntington, Charleston, and surrounding areas, causing flash flood warnings, damage, and even blocking a residential street in Charleston from any type of access for a time.
By Friday morning, almost 470 in Pendleton County had no power. Mon Power cut that number to 20 by Monday.
And, at the time of this writing, Pendleton County again awaits a potentially large dumping of snow throughout the area.
Cutlines:
Storm 1
Heavy ice caused extensive tree damage along major county thoroughfares.
Storm 2
Franklin Volunteer Fire Department crews clear an area road to open it for a call response.
Storm 3
The North Fork River came only a few feet from the state highway, covering vast acres of farmland running between Seneca Rocks and the Grant County line. Photos courtesy of Pendleton Office of Emergency Management.
